Sue Smith
Not to be confused with East Sussex trainer Miss Suzy Smith, Mrs. Sue Smith is married to former champion show jumper Harvey Smith and based at Craiglands Farm, near Bingley, West Yorkshire. Mrs. Smith first took out a public training licence in 1990 and saddled her first winner, the cheaply-bought African Safari, in the Hurst Park Novices’ Chase at Ascot in November that year. However, she is probably best known as the trainer of Auroras Encore, who sprang a 66/1 shock when winning the Grand National in 2013; in so doing, the 11-year-old made Mrs. Smith just the third female trainer, after Jenny Pitman and Venetia Williams, to win the race.
Surprisingly, in her lengthy career, Mrs. Smith has yet to saddle a Grade One winner, but has numerous Listed, Grade Three and Grade Two victories to her name down the years. She has won the Grade Two Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock four times, with The Last Fling in 2000, Arctic Jack in 2004, Cloudy Too in 2016 and Wakanda in 2019, the Grade Three Racing Post Plate at the Cheltenham Festival, with Mister McGoldrick in 2008 and both the Grade Two Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr and the Grade Two Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham, with Midnight Shadow in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Of course, these are just a handful of over 1,000 winners Mrs. Smith has saddled and, although into the veteran stage of her career, she maintains a hungry enthusiasm for the game.